"BREWADELPHIA" - The Philly Beer Scene

As some of you know already, I will be producing and directing a documentary in March and April about the Beer Scene in Philadelphia. The goal is to finish and press to DVD in MAy for availability in June for Philly Beer Week. I appreciate all the suggestions I have got from you guys so far at the meetings. For those who don't know the deal, I'll try to fill you in.

As a filmmaker, I mostly have worked in the genre of comedy. In fact, my last film, JACK IN THE BOX, has just been accepted into the Garden State Film Festival as of this morning! I have spent the last seven years in Hollywood, California attending three film schools, writing and directing films and working as a cinematographer / camera operator on film and television sets as much as possible. I finally decided to move myself and my company ( PHILLY PHILMS )back home to Philly where we belong. My first pet project was to be a documentary but I struggled to decide what topic to document. All I knew was it was to be about something "PHILLY". While enjoying a glass of the GIFT OF THE MAGI I realized there are not many things in life I am more passionate about than beer. At that moment I decided between sips that I would make a PHILLY BEER SCENE documentary.

In a nutshell, for this post is already winded, I intend to shoot interviews at our favorite beer bars in the city, firkin tapings, brewers and events. I have already met with a few taproom owners who will give me accesss to shoot and interview them and their staff. I also intend to head out to most of our local breweries to shoot there as well. I also hope to shoot at the ALEiens meetings what I can, to help promote our homebrew club which I already am addicted to!

I am also working with CBC KIDS, a local Philly charity that sponsors the Philly Craft Beer Festival. With a donation on my part for the kids, I was given access to the Beerfest to shoot and interview all the brewers attending, the set up, the festival, etc. This was huge for the film and will most likely take up a large part of the doc.. being such a great celebration of beer.

LASTLY, I wanted to reach out to all you ALEiens and offer that if you have anything interesting going on, a brew session, etc.. to let me know. I'd love to come and shoot what I can and maybe it will make the final cut.

Until we meet again on Feb 23rd, Mike "The Beer Ninja" Lawrence signing off.